So I made a starter a while ago with the dregs of a Belgian Beer I made and an IPA from Hardywood Park Brewery… Looked healthy but hinted that it may have gotten a little wild. I meant to pick up some fresh ingredients to make a beer to toss this into and see what happens… Life got busy I didn’t get to the store… So this afternoon I rooted around the garage and found some leftover liquid and dried malt extract… And some hops hidden in the freezer. If it looks like its got some wild yeast in it in the coming days ill take some photos. Day Zero:

First all-grain batch on all my new equipment! Made a Bavarian Wheat beer, but went way outside of normal IBU range for the style… Used two different yeasts… Weihenstephan on one Carboy and Bavarian yeast on the other.

Brew Day this weekend… a Sin Bin Saison! Since we have a few French guys on the team… I’m definitely getting the word “Frog” in the title somewhere! Maybe I’ll just call it Froggy… or… “Grenouille… a Sin Bin Saison”

Rugger Rye is on tap on my new 5 Gallon Keg and CO2 system (drained the first CO2 tank in one day I think from lack of tightening down at the tank). I have some Kenyan Grand Cru Coffee beans sitting on the other batch for a about a week… Bottling tomorrow! I want to get another keg soon!

There is a bill going in front of the the Virginia Senate tomorrow…SB604 that will allow VA’s production breweries to sell pints to customers on site. Contact your representative to show support of the bill! … link below:

Dear Craft Beer Enthusiast:
The Virginia Craft Brewers Guild needs your help. As you may know, the Virginia General Assembly is currently in session. What you may not know is that there is a bill, SB604, before the Senate that would greatly benefit many of the craft breweries in Virginia. This bill will be heard in the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services committee this Friday, February 10th at 8:30am.

SB604 allows a brewery licensee to sell beer at retail at premises described in the brewery license for on-premises consumption and in closed containers for off-premises consumption. In layman’s terms, production breweries would be allowed to sell pints to customers. If passed, you could tour a Virginia brewery and enjoy a pint afterwards, much like how you can enjoy a glass of wine at a Virginia winery. More importantly, this would put us on even footing with some of our neighboring states.

Craft breweries are an emerging manufacturing base in the Commonwealth of Virginia that generate good paying jobs. A tap room at a production brewery would create more jobs and badly needed revenue for the Commonwealth and local municipalities through existing sales and excise taxes. It would also help promote beer tourism.